concentration camp

noun

: a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard

—used especially in reference to camps created by the Nazis in World War II for the internment and persecution of Jews and other prisoners

The Nazi soldiers hauled [Mordechai] Strigler off to a concentration camp, and carved swastikas into his cheeks and forehead with a razor blade. Over the next five years, he was sent from one concentration camp or slave-labor camp to another.

—David Remnick

She ended up dying in a concentration camp, just a few months before she would have been liberated.

—Marilyn Reynolds

The V2 killed thousands of British civilians while 20,000 concentration camp inmates died as slave labourers during its manufacture in the closing stages of the second world war.

—Anna Tomforde et al.

see also death camp

Examples of concentration camp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Concentration Camps, Hitler And The Allies One of the highlights of the exhibition are Miller’s war photographs, particularly those of the concentration camps and Hitler’s apartment. —Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes.com, 30 May 2026

After much of the population has been sent to concentration camps, those who remain fight back. —Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 29 May 2026

Many of the rest of Jaray’s family members were killed in the concentration camps. —Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 26 May 2026

What there pointedly are not, in this wartime film, are war scenes, or footage from the concentration camps or even a suggestion of much actual physical violence in the background. —Jessica Kiang, Variety, 20 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for concentration camp

• amp
• champ
• clamp
• cramp
• damp
• gamp
• lamp
• ramp
• samp
• scamp
• stamp
• tamp

Kids Definition

concentration camp

noun

: a camp where persons (as prisoners of war, political prisoners, or refugees) are detained